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Take-Two: Analysts Underestimated GTAIV's Selling Power

For weeks and even months before the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, analysts were predicting big things for Take-Two's blockbuster. A few days before the game's release, the Associated Press reported a "9 million sales" expectation, while other industry analysts have expected 6 million in the first week alone, with over 10 million for the year. However, as far as Take-Two CEO Ben Feder is concerned, those numbers still ain't high enough.

According to MCV UK, Feder had this to say in a recent interview with Reuters:

"Our expectations are very high, higher than analysts give the game credit for. All the analysts had a [sales] number, give or take, and I think we will be on the upside of that rather than the downside."

Woah. Analysts have already predicted that GTAIV will easily shatter the $300 million sales record set by Bungie's Halo 3 last fall, but Take-Two is clearly expecting something even higher than the expected $400 million take. However, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter is sticking by his initial prediction with this reinforcement:

"The addressable market at launch is about 24 million consoles. So how many will sell in the first week or month or few months? Nine million. That's the number. That's about a 35 percent attach rate. By year's end, it'll be somewhere between 11 and 13 million because more consoles will be sold before the holidays."

Well, either way, GTAIV is going to generate some seriously gigantic sales numbers. It's no surprise that Take-Two wants those numbers to be as high as humanly possible, but what will the final tally be...?